Welcome to the Madison Early Music Festival

Announcing MEMF 2016

“Shakespeare 400: An Elizabethan Celebration"
July 9-16, 2016

Madison Early Music Festival 2015

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arts Institute announces the 16th annual Madison Early Music Festival and Workshop (MEMF). MEMF 2015 will run July 11 through July 18. The theme for 2015 is Slavic Discoveries: Early Music from Eastern Europe. In addition to a 7-event Festival Concert Series, lectures and workshops will provide opportunities to learn and practice instrumental and vocal skills, become familiar with historical performance practices and repertoire, learn about the featured music through the lenses of history and culture, and perform with other participants and faculty artists.

The 2015 Madison Early Music Festival Slavic Discoveries will take you on an adventure, as we explore the little known early music from Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Experience the cultural and musical history from the Eastern courts, early Russian Orthodox traditions, the Bohemian Crown Lands, the Polish Renaissance world of Copernicus, to the ancient lands of the Balkans. All listeners, singers, players, and dancers are welcome to experience music from Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque times! This is a rare opportunity to learn more about Eastern European music.

Our 2015 Festival Concert Series will feature Ensemble Peregrina, East of the River, The Rose Ensemble, and Piffaro, The Renaissance Band. Programs range from sacred music of churches and courts to lively dances and early traditional secular music.

This program is funded in part by grants from the Anonymous Fund, Dane Arts, and the Evjue Foundation.

Additional support is provided by the WIlliam J. Wartmann Endowment for the Madison Early Music Festival, the Jane Graff Bequest for the Madison Early Music Festival, and Friends of the Madison Early Music Festival.

Donate now to keep the Madison Early Music Festival thriving in Wisconsin.